Deuce noticed first, Kiri was not… well… normal.
To begin with despite being mostly blind, she moved with confidence, and sometimes she even reacted before they did, like she could feel— things instead of seeing them.
Maybe it was the fact that she had been blind for a very long time — she said that she was around seven when she lost her eyesight — and had learned to navigate the world using her other sense, but—
The chains.
They looked like fine jewelry wrapped around her body, sometimes they jingled, but Kiri could move them at will, the things will fly out like possessed snakes attacking enemies and wrapping around sea kings.
A devil fruit, maybe she was like Ace, and ate a devil fruit without meaning to, and that was just the result of that.
But she could swim—
Ace, still not used to his abilities, had tried to swim and before Deuce could jump, Kiri was already in the water, grabbing Ace and fussing over him.
So, the devil fruit theory was out.
And then there was the incident.
"Oh, I'm bleeding" Kiri said suddenly and Ace of course started to to panic, Deuce who was the designated responsible adult had already prepared for the situation and was already going through his things trying to find the sanitary pads he had bought for Kiri on the last island.
"Deuce, I think she may be dying!" Ace screamed and Deuce just rolled his eyes, Ace had mention growing up with bandits and a little brother, so of course he wouldn't know much about women's issues.
"Don't worry, it's completely normal" He shrugged while still trying to find the pads, not bothering to look at them. "It happens once a month, she'll be fine" He added, since he didn't want Ace freaking out once a month from something absolutely normal.
"Really? This doesn't look normal" Their captain murmured unsure, but Deuce just sighed heavily.
"Yes, all women go through this" He said smiling when he finally found the pads. "It's completely norma— he tried to say, but that's when he finally looked up.
Kiri was bleeding.
From her eyes.
"That's not normal!" He screams horrified, sharing Ace's panic.
"I told you so!" Ace screamed feeling vindicated.
"You didn't say it was from the eye—
"Oh the ears too—
"Oh God—
Only later when Ace and Deuce stopped panicking, did Kiri said that actually it was normal, it only meant that she forgot to perform the ritual for the Dragon deity.
The fucking What—
"Dragon deity that lives on my chains" She explained as it was the most normal thing in the world.
And yes—
Kiri was absolutely not normal and as someone from the crew called her later, she was their local cryptid.
.
Kiri came from a family of exorcists, everyone in her family was blessed by a different deity, a protector God, but protection came with a price, you had to pray, you had to perform rituals and be grateful.
Because not one likes a pissed God that thinks that you are taking things for granted.
Usually prayers and offerings were enough, but depending on the blessings you were given, the price changed. Kiri's mother had the ability to create little illusions, nothing too big or elaborate, but they were beautiful and for that she had lost her hearing.
Kiri had been blessed by a Dragon, and she could do so much more, she could actually fight evil and because of that the world had turned dark for her.
The first time the chains manifested around her body, she felt as if they burned her skin, and that she couldn't breathe because of their weight. The fact that she couldn't see either didn't help her at all.
But her family had called the most traumatic event of her short life a miracle, and Kiri— had never felt so alone and scared but she smiled, because her family was happy, and that meant she did something good, that she was making the family proud.
Not one asked her opinion—
"So you have to do this dance—
"It's a ritual" Kiri corrected Ace.
"It's a dance, you even have a bell thing" He said pointing at the Kagura Suzu on her hands and Kiri decided that it was useless to correct him. "But the point is that if you don't dance, you bleed out?"
"It's a punishment, if I don't show my appreciation for my abilities the heavens punish me" She explained for the tenth time that day.
"Well, that sucks" Ace said and she blinked. "Sounds like a real pain in the ass if you asked me" he added and Kiri looked at him, she couldn't see him, only the strange shadow creature that has attached to him since he ate that fruit but—
For Kiri no one had looked more amazing for her before.
"Yeah" She murmured with a soft, tiny smile. "It's a real pain in the ass" Back in her home that would have been blasphemy, but here? Not even the dragon cared.
Kiri really like this world — and its people, she liked it's people a lot —
.
It sucked that Kiri had to perform for a dragon, or the heavens or some other mystic thing — She explained it to him a few times, Deuce did too, but it sounded complicated so he may have zoom out a couple of times — to not bleed to death, but—
He had to admit that it was beautiful.
Kiri always moved with a certain grace, even when she fought, she was elegant in a way that someone like him could never achieve and now he knew where that elegance came from.
Her black hair shinned unde the moon, and the jingles of bells could be heard while Kiri moved with practiced elegance, dancing and moving with the wind like a fairy, she was absolutely beautiful — well, Kiri was always cute and pretty, but right now she was absolutely breathtaking —
And for a moment why a God would throw a fit for not being able to see this, this ritual, or whatever it was called did not seem so unreasonable.
Ace could watch it forever.
.
Totally correct quotes:
Deuce : Ace always accuses me of having a favourite but that's not true.
Deuce : I love Kiri and all the not-Kiri s equally.
Deuce , at Starbucks: Can I get a venti vanilla latte with um, seven espresso shots.
Ace , in line behind him: Jesus Christ, just do cocaine.
Kiri : Do you have a self-care routine?
Ace : "Keep going bitch" said to myself in different accents